How NASA’s InSight Will Plumb the Depths of Mars

Propelled by a predawn rocket launch from California, NASA’s InSight spacecraft is now on a voyage of some six months to Mars to study the deep interior of the red planet.

“The science that we want to do with this mission, the reason we’re going to Mars, is really the science of understanding the early solar system,” said Bruce Banerdt, the principal investigator in a prelaunch briefing on Thursday. “How planets form, how rocky planets form.”

It could also provide insights to planets around distant stars and how likely those possess climates and conditions that would be habitable to life.

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